Show of Hands

Yet people still bring these evil and parasite infested creatures into their homes.

Also, if you think that’s scary, you should know about all the *other* potential brain-altering organisms that you may already be walking around with - in your gut, mostly. If you’re interested, I’d recommend reading any of these:

This Is Your Brain on Parasites, by Kathlees McAuliffe

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life, by Ed Yong.

And maybe also Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature’s Most Dangerous Creatures, by Carl Zimmer. I haven’t read it yet but Zimmer is a great writer.

.

It’s science.

No problem.

Ebola, you read Ed Yong’s book I Contain Multitudes, didn’t you? I don’t remember if he mentions this concept there or not. But if you’re interested in the subject, one of the books I recommended above does - This Is Your Brain on Parasites. I’m re-listening to the audiobook right now, and it’s fascinating stuff. She starts off talking about parasite manipulation of animals, and segues into human issues. A lot of it is about behaviors. Some of it sound pretty wildly speculative - and if I remember right she is pretty careful to note what is well grounded, and what is speculative. Heck, most of the book covers the actual researchers, how and where and what they found; whether the concepts have held up to further research, etc.

.

The very first researcher she mentions, Janice Moore, is a woman whose early interest in the field - specifically, about how parasites may control some very specific behaviors of animals, and her subsequent research - was just delightful to read about. Turns out she is (was) a professor just a few miles from me at Colorado State. I was all excited about auditing one of her classes, until I found out she was in the process of retiring, and isn’t teaching any more. Dammit. I may go try to hang out with her some other way, though. Turns out she really was a pioneer in the field, and wrote or co-authored some interesting sounding books I’ll have to get. Parasites and the Behavior of Animals is the main one.

.